Rose, Jack and Murdoch
by Flowers-and-Roses-1919
Summary: When Rose spends an evening with Will Murdoch, she realizes she's developed feelings for him, feelings which are mutual but there's a problem: She also has feelings for Jack, she's found herself having feelings for two men, what's she to do? Plz R&R!
1. Chapter 1

l Chapter One l

Rose walked out to the deck of Titanic, on a cold, breezy night, her beautiful, white face stained with tears, her heart pounding several beats a minute, her stomach turning in knots of anxiety. She wasn't sure what she was doing as she slowly walked to the deck of the Titanic, but she knew she wanted nothing more than just to die, die at that moment and be free of her hurt, her pain, her fears. This was the second time she was contemplating death, the first time, Jack saved her, but this time, not Jack, not her mother, not Lovejoy, not even Cal knew she had secretly fled her cabin room to go hang off the railing of the RMS Titanic, to plunge to her death. It was all so complicated for Rose, she didn't love Cal, she didn't want to get married, she wanted to be free. As she slowly climbed over the railing and held on, while staring down into the dark, blue waters of the ocean, tears streamed from her eyes. She was ready to let go—until—

Will Murdoch had been given the rest of the night off, after being up all night and day for a day and a half, in his duties as officer on the Titanic. He walked out to the deck to smoke a cigarette and stopped in his tracks when he saw who was in front of him. He saw Rose, hanging on to the other side of the railing, looking as if she were minutes from plunging to her death, into the icy waters of the ocean. Murdoch gasped and immediately ran over to the railing where she was.

"What do ya think you're doing, miss!" Murdoch yelled in his British accent.

Rose looked back at Murdoch with eyes that were filled with surprise, her face held a look as if she were a deer caught in the headlights of a car.

"Stand back!" Rose yelled with a slight, shaky voice. "Damn it, how is it that someone always knows when I'm doing this!"

Murdoch looked at her with a confused frown.

"Miss, what are ya doing? You're not supposed to be on there." Murdoch said in a slightly calm voice.

Rose shook her head and frowned angrily.

"Oh I know I not! Do you think I'm dumb or something!"

Murdoch frowned more.

"Well what ARE ya doing on there?"

Rose sighed and closed her eyes briefly.

"Its him isn't it?" Murdoch asked, although he already knew the answer to his question.

Rose looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"Him who?"

Rose knew exactly who Murdoch was referring to, but she wanted him to reveal it, just to be sure.

"Caledon Hockely, I believe his name is." Murdoch said in a cold-like tone of voice. "I've seen you with him, and him with you, that bloke wouldn't know what love was, if it bloody well smacked him in the face."

Rose looked down and frowned, she could feel more tears filling her eyes.

"I don't love him." Rose said in a low voice. "He's so controlling, so—obsessive, so—"

"Abusive, eh?" Murdoch interrupted.

Rose looked at him with a confused frown.

"How did you know?"

Murdoch shrugged as he walked closer to the railing where she was standing, he felt he had been talking to her long enough, for him to be able to move close enough for her not to even take notice.

"I've seen it, love." Murdoch blurted out almost in haste. "I've walked the halls of first class, and have passed your room and have heard your crying, him beating you."

"Once he even punched me in my jaw," Rose said sadly. "He kept punching until I blacked out. He's so cruel."

Murdoch looked down, sighed and slightly frowned.

"May I be honest, love?" Murdoch asked.

Rose glanced at him and shook her head with a slight frown and then nodded.

"Yeah, sure."

"Why do ya stay with him? There are plenty of other lads who would be knocking down doors to be with ya. He doesn't deserve ya."

Rose stared at him and smiled briefly and looked away.

"That's sweet of you to say, Mr. Murdoch." Rose responded. "I—I'm afraid to leave him, to be honest."

Murdoch looked down at her hand and slowly reached out and touched it, the warmth of his hand seemed to vibrate through to her cold, hand.

"He's a lucky man, Mr. Hockley is." Murdoch said in a low voice. "But ya don't need to do this, love. Don't end your life like this, there's a better way, if ya want, I—I'll help ya find a better way, but don't do this, ya don't want to."

Rose looked at him and resisted the urge to laugh. She simply smiled briefly.

"Now you sound like Jack." Rose said in a low voice. "He's trying to save me too, but in his own—way."

Murdoch looked away and sighed.

"Yeah, I've seen ya with that other lad." Murdoch said with a hint of bitterness. "Dawson's his name, I believe."

Rose looked at him with a smirk.

"Just how long have you been watching me, Mr. Murdoch?" Rose asked almost with a hint of amusement.

Murdoch looked her dead in her eyes and shrugged.

"For a while now, I tend to watch those whom I sincerely like."

Rose stared at him, as her smile began to fade. She thought he was joking at first, but the longer she examined his face, his stare, she knew he was serious. She looked away and nodded slowly with a serious expression.

"Can you help me back over please?" Rose asked. "I think I'll save my impending suicide for a later day."

Murdoch laughed briefly as he wrapped his big, strong arms around her toned waist and helped her back over the railing. He could smell the scent of her beautiful summer breeze scented perfume.

"Good, love, lets hope you hold it off, lets say—permanently?" Murdoch said with a brief smirk.

Rose looked down and smiled briefly as she stood beside him.

"Well, um, thank you for the talk and for helping me back over, Mr. Murdoch."

"You can call me Will," Murdoch said with a shrug.

Rose nodded with another one of her beautiful smiles.

"Will, it is."

Murdoch nodded and turned and walked away. He briefly closed his eyes and frowned. He wanted to stay there with her, in the days he had been watching her on the Titanic, he had taken a real liking to her, and now he had a chance to start something with her, and he chose to just walk away.

"Mr. Murdoch—I mean, Will, wait." Rose said quickly.

Murdoch stopped and turned around, as he took out a cigarette and began to light it.

"Um, I really don't want to go back to my room with Cal," Rose began, "and if I go anywhere near third class, Lovejoy will surely be down there to spy and to go back to tell Cal and so—"

"Ya wanna go for coffee in the dining room, then, eh?" Murdoch asked before taking a puff of his cigarette in a cool "James Dean" type of way. "Ya know, just til you're ready to go back and face that hideous big-faced fiancée of yours?"

Rose laughed and looked down briefly with a look of relief almost.

"Yes, that be nice, Will, can we?"

Murdoch nodded and held out her arm for her to walk up to him and put her arm under. As she did, they walked away off the deck towards the dining room.


	2. Chapter 2

l Chapter Two l

Murdoch and Rose sat at a back table in the first class dining room, with coffee for the both of them. They had been sitting and talking for two straight hours. Murdoch was listening to her talk about everything, about Cal, about Ruth, about what her life used to be before and what it was at that moment.

"So like, how old are ya anyway, love?" Murdoch said with a smile, as he took a puff of his cigarette. "Ya look fifteen, sixteen."

Rose laughed briefly before taking a small sip of her coffee.

"I'm seventeen, actually."

Murdoch nodded with a surprise look.

"Good God, you're bloody beautiful for seventeen, my dear."

Rose smiled and blushed lightly.

"Thank you, Cal always said it was mere luck that I hadn't aged thirty years by now."

Murdoch raised both eyebrows, with a surprised look.

"Christ, I'm sorry to say, but your fiance a bloke and a asshole for saying that, hun."

Rose scoffed and rolled her eyes at him.

"Tell me about it, I wish I could just break free of him and find—adventure, travel, a REAL love."

Murdoch stared at her as he took the final puffs of his cigarette.

"What WERE your plans before you met up with big-faced Hockley?" Murdoch asked.

Rose smiled as she looked down at her coffee cup, his question seemed to put her in an instant daze of daydreaming.

"I'd like to be a moving picture actress—yeah." Rose said with a smile. "I'd like to travel the world, go to places like Paris, Italy, Switzerland—just see the world—do—everything!"

Murdoch smiled as he took a sip of his coffee and sighed.

"I've been to Switzerland—twice."

Rose gasped with an enthusiastic smile.

"Really, you have!" She exclaimed. "How was it there, Will? Is it just grand?"

Murdoch laughed and then shrugged.

"Its bloody beautiful there, love, the Swiss alps are fucki—um, I mean great. They're great."

Murdoch didn't fancy swearing around females, a lesson his mother taught him growing up, that swearing around women was improper. Rose picked up on this.

"You can swear around me, its fine." Rose said with a smile. "Cal does it, so why not you too?"

Murdoch nodded slightly.

"Yeah, well unlike Cal, big face, big hair Hockley, I respect the women I'm around."

Rose smiled at Murdoch, it was something about him she liked. He had a interesting vibe to him that somehow she was picking up on. It was a vibe that was similar to Jack's.

"Uh, well I'd love to go to Switzerland one day." Rose said with a glum sigh.

Murdoch looked at her in silence.

"I'd love to take you there one day, Rose." Murdoch said warmly. "Go to Switzerland, to Paris, Italy, applaud you at one of your plays, on your ace work as an actress, yeah, that be great."

Rose smiled and shook her head.

"Practically the same thing Jack once said to me. God I'd love to just do all of that."

"What do ya mean, Rose?" Murdoch asked. "Ya CAN do all of that, ya just have to set your mind to it and—DO IT."

Rose stared at Murdoch intently listening to what he was saying.

"Can we go talk outside? On the deck now?" Rose asked, as she looked all around the dining room, that was starting to become filled with people.

Murdoch shrugged and nodded.

"Sure, love, lets go."

* * *

><p>As Murdoch and Rose walked all around the empty deck of the Titanic, under the night sky, Rose stared up at the numerous, brightened stars in the sky in silence.<p>

"Maybe I should just set my mind to it and just—do it, Will." Rose said as she stopped by the railing of the ship and stood beside Will.

Murdoch looked at her and smirked.

"If I had the chance, do you know what I'd do?" Murdoch asked.

Rose glanced at him briefly.

"No, what's that, Will?"

Murdoch sighed before responding, he wasn't sure how to respond, no, wait, he knew how to respond, he just wasn't sure if he had the courage to say what he was planning on responding with.

"If I had the chance, I'd go up to the woman beating, controlling big faced fiance of yours and tell him that you're mine and that I love you and that he's to back off or else, and he would, yeah, I have my ways, so I know he would and then I'd—well—I'd fly ya away to Paris and then—"

"Then we could go and see a stage play every night." Rose interrupted with a smile.

Murdoch laughed.

"Yeah," Murdoch replied with a smile, "and then we could fly off to Switzerland and go skiing and—"

"Then we could go off to France," Rose interrupted with an excited smile, "and go see the Eiffel Tower or—"

"Or—" Murdoch said with a smile, as he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him closely. "Or we could go dancing, dancing under the beautiful stars in wonderful Naples Italy."

Rose laughed as Murdoch swayed her all around the deck in a waltz type dance movement.

"That would be absolutely wonderful!" Rose said in between laughter, with him laughing as well as he twirled and spun her around.

They ended their dance by the back railing of the ship, with the both of them laughing at their playfulness. Rose looked at Murdoch and smiled.

"Why can't Cal be as fun as you are, Will?"

Murdoch shrugged with a brief smile.

"He's not as handsome as I am, so I take that to be the reason."

Rose laughed and shook her head. Rose quickly hugged him, which took him by surprise.

"Wow, what's this for, love?" Murdoch asked with a smile.

Rose released him slightly and smiled.

"Just for being a friend to me tonight, I truly needed someone, a friend and you were here—first time you've ever been here as a friend."

Murdoch laughed.

"But I'm glad you were here." Rose added with a smile. "You took my mind off—HIM for at least a little while."

Murdoch nodded and looked at her. He didn't want to walk away from her—not yet, not without—

Murdoch quickly stepped closer to her and kissed her on the lips, at first she thought of resisting him, but she hadn't felt a feeling so great since, well since dancing with Jack at the third class party below the deck of Titanic. She slowly wrapped her arms around him and kissed him back with passion, a passion she hadn't felt in almost forever, then suddenly, she remembered—Jack. She pushed Murdoch away quickly and looked at him with an embarrassed, guilty look.

"Um—um, I—I should go—yeah, bye Will." Rose said before quickly dashing away from him.

"Rose, wait!" Murdoch yelled after her. "Rose—Aww, shit!" Murdoch swore angrily.

Murdoch stopped and rolled his eyes in anger. He blew it trying to kiss her like that, what the hell was he thinking?

As Rose walked away, to her cabin room, her mind was running, racing with thoughts. She couldn't believe in the hours she spent talking with Will, she had begun to like him, REALLY like him, and she was without a doubt sure he had strong feelings for her, hell he even said he had been watching her, yes Rose was starting to like Murdoch just as much as she liked Jack, but there WAS the issue of Jack, Jack whom she also had feelings for—and then there was Cal—who wouldn't let neither Will nor Jack have her. Boy oh boy, what was she going to do? It seemed she was in a three-way triangle of confusion, with one man whom she didn't love and was dying to get away from and two other men whom she was developing a strong liking for. What would Rose do when it came to these three men?

Little did Murdoch or Rose know that their kiss and the time they spent on Titanic's deck were being watched. Yes, someone had been watching Murdoch, watching Rose, watching them both—and not only one pair of eyes were watching, but two…


End file.
